Trust Your Gut

It started off as just another bus ride. I was in 7th grade, taking the bus with all of the middle schoolers in my neighborhood. My best friend and I were busy talking about our latest crushes and what TV shows we watched last night when we got interrupted by a girl named Amanda sitting in front of us. She peeked her head above the seat and asked us if we wanted to see what she was bringing to school that day. Of course we agreed like most curious 7th graders would. She revealed to us a Ziploc bag of marijuana. At that time, my friend and I were very confused considering we had never seen that substance before but we were also curious. After explaining what it was and bragging about the fact that she was going to bring it into the school, Amanda asked if we wanted to have some as well. Upon learning it was the drug marijuana I immediately felt uncomfortable and decided to go with my gut and turn down the offer. My friend declined as well and we continued on with our ride.

Reflecting back, I am still proud of my 7th grade self for trusting my instinct and rejecting the offer. I stood true to my values and didn't give into the pressure of taking something that I was uncomfortable with. I was once told that more often than not, you should trust your gut instinct. Luckily in this situation I had the confidence to do so and it saved me from experimentation.

Side Note: that day we had a random drug search at our school. These happened several times a year at our middle school and high school. The police and canine unit come to search the parking lot and the dogs sniff the locker area. Amanda's marijuana was found that day and she got in very serious trouble for bringing it to school.